Klarna Kosma wins new open banking customer

Klarna’s open banking platform Kosma is helping Airbank as it looks to international expansion as well as providing revenue diversification for the BNPL giant.

Image source: Wilko Klaassen/Klarna

Kosma, the open banking unit of BNPL provider Klarna, has won its latest client.

Berlin-based Airbank, which provides banking aggregation services to startups and SMEs and raised $20m at the start of 2022, will use Klarna Kosma, as it seeks to expand internationally.

Airbank allows companies to see aggregated bank accounts and other financial services data for the benefit of chief financial officers and founders to see in real-time. 

This helps companies automate processes, keep track of all their financial transactions as well as forecast future liquidity and execute payments.

“By the end of this year, we will serve over 50 countries, making Airbank the most comprehensive global banking solution for SMEs in the industry, with the ability to connect bank accounts from almost anywhere in the world,” said Christopher Zemina, founder and CEO of Airbank.

Kosma was launched by Klarna in 2022, but its origins lie in the BNPL giant’s acquisition in 2014 of German fintech Sofort. It is currently processing nearly one billion bank account information requests each year.

It represents a significant move by Klarna, which saw an 88 per cent cut to its valuation in recent months as investors discounted the BNPL sector amid 2022’s economic turmoil, towards broadening its revenue channels away from its direct-to-consumer business that most would associate it with.

Kosma says its open banking platform brings together information from 15,000 banks in 26 countries worldwide through a single API integration and therefore competes in the competitive world of Plaid, Truelayer, Yolt, Bud et al.

“The market for fintechs focused on SMEs harbours enormous potential for growth. Yet, hardly any open banking providers are addressing their needs. We are proud to empower Airbank to make the leap to a global stage with our proven API and help to drastically simplify financial management for SMEs around the world”, said Wilko Klaassen, VP, Klarna Kosma.